Free Speech Food Fights on the Rise

Coca-Cola and other big food and beverage companies are increasingly raising their free speech rights to challenge what regulators and consumers tell them they must, or can’t, say about their products.

The industry’s greater invocation of the First Amendment can be seen in challenges to regulation and litigation over sugar-sweetened food and drinks.

Manufacturers and the trade group that represents U.S. makers of non-alcoholic beverages say the science is unsettled. Warning directives and false advertising suits abridge their right to contribute to a public debate about sugar and health, they argue.

It’s too soon to declare winners and losers, but ...